Liberal People's Party (Hulstria
The Liberale Volkspartei (= "Liberal People's Party") was a classical liberal party in Hulstria & Gao-Soto that existed between 3563 and 3651 and during that time was one of the most influential political forces, having been in government for most of that period. It has produced three Staatsministers (Dr. Emilia Lahnsteiger, Ludwig Kirchgasser and Franz Graumann). In 3651, it dissolved and merged into the Liberale Bürgerunion together with the NBF. Almost seven centuries later, the LVP was refounded by Baron Hademar Holzinger in 4318, representing the liberal tradition within the fourth 15th of September Movement. The party currently holds a plurality of seats in the Diet and is expected to lead the next government coalition. Ideology While the LVP officially identifies as a party of the centre, it is generally seen as centre-right. It also describes "liberalism" as its ideology without further specifications, but can safely be labeled classically liberal with a strong emphasis on free-market capitalism. Socially, the party is moderately permissive, supporting the decriminalization of cannabis and most other recreational drugs, private gun ownership, civil liberties and opposing most morality laws. Its views on marriage equality are mixed, some of the LVP's more conservative proponents reject gay marriage while mainstream members back it. Factionalism While not officially recognized, there are informally organized factions within the LVP. These include: *'Classical liberals': The classical liberals are the largest ideological group in the LVP and are often considered the mainstream or establishment faction. They support economic and personal freedom, but are generally pragmatic on most policy issues. *'Neoliberals': The Neoliberals strive for massive economic deregulation, large-scale tax cuts, less welfare and privatization of government services such as healthcare, infrastructure and media. Their views on social issues differ. *'Libertarians:' The Libertarians in the LVP are the most avowed advocates of personal freedom, supporting very permissive drug and gun laws and generally maximum civil liberties. They are also very pro-business, but oppose all kinds of corporate welfare such as farm subsidies. On defence and foreign affairs, they are generally non-interventionst and, in some cases, pacifist. *'Social liberals:' The social liberals are often portrayed as the left-wing of the LVP. However, they do support moderate economic liberalism. In sharp contrast to the other factions, they are less keen on dismantling the welfare state and often support policies such as minimum income and wages, public health care and the abolition of tuition fees. *'Conservatives:' A small minority within the LVP identifies as conservative. They are usually socially more restrictive than the other factions and oppose strict secularism, often openly embracian Hosian values. They are thus sometimes jokingly called "the HDV-wing of the LVP." Most of these members come from rural communities where the LVP is traditionally weak. History Foundation The LVP was founded by Aurelia Lamann-Spitzer, a publisher and journalist from Kien in June 3563 as a party with a "commitment to democracy, tradition and our national identity and (...) a truly freedom-minded vision for our grand nation." Lamann-Spitzer's deputy, wealthy industrialist Markus Fahrengold provided funds for massive publicity efforts and administrative infrastructure in the early days of the LVP, enabling the party to reach the electorate quickly and effectively. Only a few weeks after its founding, Aurelia Lamann-Spitzer became the first Liberal member of the Reichstag by winning a by-election in Kien-West. In its first general election held in 3564, the LVP won 35% of votes, a strong performance for a brand new party. However, the dominance HDV under Staatsminister Klaus Michels remained unbroken with 65%. Under Lamann-Spitzer In the next five years, the LVP proposed numerous bills mostly aimed at economic reforms, consisting of privatization, deregulation and market liberalism. Few of them passed the Reichstag though, as the HDV voted them down for most of the time. However, some policies proposed by the Liberals passed, including bills to privatize forests, tightening immigration laws and condemning the unificaciónist movement in Dranland. In 3569, elections were held again, and the emergence of numerous new parties, including far-right and far-left ones, spoiled the initially good chances of the LVP to gain seats. However, in the Crownlands, the LVP became the dominant party, winning Hulstria, Budenlar and Hilgar. Furthermore, the HDV's nationwide losses meant that they could no longer govern alone, which led to Klaus Michels inviting Lamann-Spitzer for coalition negotiations. A coalition was then formed with the LVP leader as Vize-Staatsministerin and Minister of the Interior. The coalition lasted until 3574, and one of its main accomplishments were significant tax cuts for the middle class, initiated by Liberal Finance Minister Richard Aoyama. However, in the January 3574 general election, populist parties stormed to victory, leaving the coalition parties with heavy losses. Following several months of unsuccessful negotiations, snap polls were held in which the moderate Septembrist parties recovered. Finally, a broad coalition out of HSP, HDV and LVP under Anne Nishimura was formed, in which the Liberals were led by Janina Stadtmann, who was a proponent of the left-liberal wing of the party. Under Stadtmann The coalition harmonized well, but in the 3579 elections it lost its majority, forcing it to include the national-conservative Partei Rechtsstaatlicher (PRS) in order to obtain a majority. The LVP, which had suffered strong losses in the '79 election, was left with only one cabinet post, namely that of Environment and Tourism. Ahead of the '84 elections, Stadtmann tried to regain the support of the liberal bourgeoisie, shifting notably to the right and proposing deregulation and tax cuts for the wealthy. She also sponsored bills aimed at deregulating the infrastructure sector and reducing the minimum wage, the latter of which surprisingly passed the Reichstag. However, in the election, the LVP gained only slightly, up to 8%, which was seen as a dissapointment, forcing her to resign. The Holzinger/Griesmeyer dual leadership era Hans Holzinger, a former Defence Minister and outspoken conservative, was elected parliamentary leader shortly thereafter, and pushed a pronouncedly conservative agenda including proposals to restrict abortion and defund state-sponsored birth control programs. Holzinger was replaced as leader, however, when he lost the regular leadership election in May 3585 to libertarian lawyer Herbert Griesmeyer, who by rallying young LVP supportes with his pro-drug legalization policy among other issues. What followed was an uneasy dual leadership that was frequently rocked by internal disputes, especially over drug policy, that culminated in Griesmeyer's deputy Laura Capellari challenging Holzinger for the parliamentary leadership. The election in December 3586 nevertheless returned the incumbent, forcing Griesmeyer to back down in his bid to disempower the conservative wing. In the parliamentary tenure from 3584 to 3589, the LVP was once again part of the "moderate plus coalition", although it was less harmonious this time as LVP, PRS and HDV were frustrated with the HSP's nationalizations, which it passed by teaming up with the leftist Diet majority consisting of social democrats, socialists, communists and other far-left forces. The coalition's main achievement was abolishing the Imperial Courts (upper house) and replacing them with a second chamber made up by representatives of the Crownlands. The LVP itself reformed its statutes to allow for inner-party direct democracy, letting delegates from the local party branches choose the top candidate and letting them approve the official manifesto for the 3589 election. The 3589 election turned out a huge success for the LVP, as Griesmeyer's free-market reformist message paid off in the cities, while Holzinger's conservatism rallied country liberals. The party won 16.85%, thus doubling its share, and stormed ahead in Hulstria Crownland. The moderate plus coalition was subsequently renewed, although this time it developed a markedly more rightist streak, implementing a partial reversal of the railway nationalization and several other privatization projects, such as selling off telephone lines. In a free vote, Health Minister Emilia Lahnsteiger also managed to pass a bill legalizing medical marjuana. In the 3594 elections, the right-wing populist Nationale Konservative Partei surprisingly emerged as the largest right-leaning party, and a government led by an NKP-Staatsminister was formed, in which the LVP participated (Chairman Herbert Griesmeyer, however, switched to the position of parliamentary leader to avoid having to work with the NKP in cabinet). The NKP, however, soon collapsed, and after the ensuing early election moderate plus returned, chaired again by Matiasu Fukuyama as Staatsminister. The government continued its localist and market liberal agenda until the 3601 elections, when at first it looked like the moderate plus coalition could remain in office, with Herbert Griesmeyer as Staatsminister (he would have been the first liberal Head of Government since centuries). Things turned out different, however, and, when the Partei Rechtsstaatlicher, one pillar of the moderate plus coalition, collapsed, the Communist party under Sascha Meinhof seized the opportunity to form a government after persuading the Hulstrianisch-Sozialistische Partei to switch blocs. In turn, Griesmeyer resigned, and Hans Holzinger took over the party on an interim basis. Emilia Lahnsteiger became parliamentary leader. Under Emilia Lahnsteiger - First Liberal-led government Despite revolutionary proposals such as nearly unlimited eminent domain competences for the state and massive tax increases, the Communist-led coalition failed to achieve major reforms as the HSP abstained from most bills (only a controversial bill to legalize paramilitaries passed, but no armed conflict resulted from it). In the meantime, LVP and HDV acted as a unified Septembrist opposition, warning about the dangers of communist totalitarianism and a dictatorial regime. After the elections, in which the radical government suffered heavy losses and the HSP benefitted most, the far-left and far-right parties dissolved, and again elections had to be held to fill the seats, this time only the Septembrist parties HDV, LVP and HSP contested the election, in which the Social Democrats came in first again, with 38.42 percent, and the Liberals second, winning 35.32 percent. The HDV took the remaining 26.26 percent. Also, shortly ahead of the elections, Emilia Lahnsteiger was elected LVP Chairwoman following the resignation of interim Chairman Hans Holzinger. After failed negotiations over an all-party coalition, LVP and HDV renewed their traditional alliance, this time with the Liberals taking the lead, and Lahnsteiger becoming Staatsministerin, the first one affiliated with a liberal party in centuries. In government, the coalition banned paramilitaries, re-introduced the symbolic dual state religion and tightened restrictions on abortion. On other issues, the LVP launched solo efforts to pass libertarian policies such as legalizing prostitution and making it a recognized profession, removing state regulations from private universities and deregulating the stock market. Most controversially, Finance Minister Harald Matsuyama (LVP) proposed to cut taxes for high-income and low-income earners by four percent each, and claimed that big cuts were needed in order to outweigh the lost revenue. Matsuyama assigned most of these cuts to Infrastructure in his proposed budget, but the HDV refused to back it, leading to its defeat in the diet while the tax cuts passed. Surprisingly, no deficit ensued, as the economy started to grow rapidly, which the LVP attributed to deregulation and more investment following the tax cut. However, accusations of fiscal miscalculation were directed against the LVP, and the tax episode continued to cause disputes in the media, academia and general public. Snap elections were called for January 3611, at the initiative of the HDV but supported by Staatsministerin Lahnsteiger as the LVP assumed that the booming economy would boost its support. However, this decision backfired, as the LVP was reduced to 31% while the HDV gained over eleven percent, up to 38%, thus winning a clear plurality. The coalition was renewed, this time led by the HDV and chaired by Franziska Schäfer as Staatsministerin. Under Matsuyama Matsuyama's goal of a harmonious and pragmatic coalition failed as the libertarians regained momentum after Health Minister Dr. Leida Weigel (HDV) proposed a highly paternalist smoking regulation bill, which included warning signs, an employment protection clause and new licensing systems for cafés. Emilia Lahnsteiger, who saw her legacy as former Health Minister under threat, denounced Weigel's bill sharply, criticizing it as harmful to business and nanny-statist. A minority of social liberals in the LVP helped to pass it in the end, which infuriated the right-wing. But it became even worse for the party when Hans Mende and three other LVP MdRs broke away from the party in 3614 to form Die Sozialliberalen, a left-liberal party that opposed the LVP's alleged shift to the right. For a short time, it was speculated that Matsuyama might get ousted even before the 3616 election. In the end, he managed to hang onto his post, as he received Lahnsteiger's endorsement in late 3615. Ahead of the election, the LVP campaigned on a triumvirate strategy, which presented Matsuyama, Ariane von Gehrfeld and Klaus Zinnberger as a team. The logic behind it was to let Matsuyama appeal to the urban middle and working class, Zinnberger to the rural population and von Gehrfeld to the bourgeoisie. Although the LVP made gains in urban Crownlands, the 3616 election was overall unsuccessful, as the party was overtaken by Mende's new formation, which literally absorbed the voter base of the former Social Democrat party, which was destroyed in the election, losing all of its seat. The LVP itself lost only six seats and won first place in Budenlar, Matsuyama's home Crownland. Nonetheless, the Chairman announced his retreat from national politics in June 3616, paving the way for a leadership election, which was won unanimously by Ariane von Gehrfeld. Under von Gehrfeld As his last action as Chairman, Matsuyama negotiated a coalition agreement with the HDV, which included a recreational drug ban in exchange of a review of the tough smoking laws, as well as a pledge to reform education. As von Gehrfeld remained in the Diet as parliamentary leader (Klaus Zinnberger became Vize-Staatsminister) and moderate Economics Minister Sepp Holzinger coordinated cooperation with the HDV for the LVP, the coalition was relatively harmonious, except for a regulation of advertisements bill which the HDV passed at the initiative of the left-wing Solidarity party and which the Liberals opposed. Ahead of the 3621 general election, polls were bad and expectations low for the LVP, as Die Radikalen, a new liberal party which out-flanked the LVP to the right on economic issues was expected to take away a chunk of its electorate. As von Gehrfeld and Holzinger declined, Zinnberger was nominated as lead candidate and challenger of Staatsministerin Janna Goddestreu, whose popularity was enormous at that time. He was not seen as a credible challenger, and the LVP mainly focused on damage limitation, attacking Solidarity rather than the HDV, and campaigning vehemently against the left-wing's plan of nationalizing forests, which the LVP dubbed "land grabbing" and an portrayed as an assault on rural citizens. In the end, the LVP's result was quite satisfactory and better than expected, as it suffered only minor losses and ended up only one point behind the HDV. Especially in rural regions and in Mitrania did it perform well, apparently as a result of the "anti-land grabbing campaign" masterminded by Zinnberger himself. After the negotiations, von Gehrfeld and Goddestreu agreed on renewing the Hosian-Liberal coalition, but negotiations were tense. In the end, von Gehrfeld gave in on several devolution matters (including fares, which she had opposed as Minister of Trade and Industry), while Goddestreu accepted abolishing salary caps contrary to her party's corporatist leanings. Both leaders were thus able to sell the result as a victory to their clientele, allowing for another term of orange-yellow. The coalition lost its majority in 3626, and the left-wing Solidarity party emerged as the victor. The LVP had a chance for obtaining power through a three-way right-wing coalition, but this was not realized. As HDV and Solidarity could not agree on a Red-Orange coalition, early elections had to be held in 3628, in which the LVP made only small gains, but HDV and Solidarity lost their majority, making coalition-forming even harder. After new negotiations for a three-way-rightist alliance failed and various people called on her to stand aside for Sepp Holzinger as Staatsminister candidate, von Gehrfeld resigned as LVP leader in 3629, and was succeeded by Ludwig Kirchgasser. Under Kirchgasser - Second Liberal-led government. As Chairman, Kirchgasser moved his party away from the option of coalescing with the populist NBF, instead choosing to form a Grand Septembrist coalition with HDV and Solidarity, in which he became Vize-Staatsminister and Minister of Agriculture. In the same year, the LVP won the 3633 general election, amid the rise of several radical parties such as the far-right Allianz für Hoffnung. He thus became only the second Liberal Staatsminister after Emilia Lahnsteiger nearly three decades earlier. To defy the radicals, he invited all septembrist parties from centre-left to right-wing to join his cabinet, although, due to the electoral annihilation of Solidarity, his coalition was overall decidedly right-wing. His administration conducted various important reforms, including privatization of various state-owned utilities, education reforms and other measures. However, there were also some inner-coalition tensions over issues such as same-sex marriage and adoption as well as lowering the compulsory school leaving age and increasing farm subsidies. In 3638, Kirchgasser's LVP won another general election, increasing its plurality to nearly 10%. Kirchgasser thus was able to remain in office, this time leading a three-way liberal-conservative alliance of LVP, NBF and HDV after Solidarity had collapsed. After the election, some of the paternalist health laws restricting the consumption of tobacco and alcohol, which had been established during the years of HDV dominance, were eased when the LVP supported opposition bills aimed at liberalization in this area. Some tax cuts were also made, but some of the liberalization attempts pushed by the LVP failed to gain enough support to pass through the diet. The LVP-led government won a triumphant re-election in 3643, and once again in the snap polls held in the same year after the collapse of the main opposition group, with over 32% of the vote and pluralities in four out of five Crownlands. However, shortly after his triumph, his downfall began, as the ultra-libertarian Budenlar branch of the LVP around Minister-President Hartmut Schellhoff and Labsburg Mayor Nathalie Lahnsteiger demanded that the Staatsminister sack the HDV from cabinet and form a two-way coalition with the NBF, which was numerically possible. Kirchgasser refused, but his rivals increased their pressure. When the NBF ousted its own leader, Kuniko Fujita, over the same question, the Staatsminister finally called a membership plebiscite, promising to resign if the party base voted in favor of the Yellow-Blue coalition. The vote narrowly turned out in favor of Yellow-Blue (51.76%), and Kirchgasser had to resign as LVP Chairman in June 3644. His successor, Franz Graumann, became party leader and also took over the position of Staatsminister in January 3645. He formed a two-way coalition with the NBF as he had promised. Under Graumann - third Liberal-led government and merger with NBF Graumann's government, which maintained a populist rhetoric, passed various reforms decreasing the size of government and abolishing regulation, such as legalizing privately-owned gated communities, looseing gun control laws, privatizing the national grid, abolishing advertisement restrictions and legalizing nuclear power nationwide. However, the LVP was overruled on the issue of prostitution, where the NBF joined with the opposition to ban it, which caused a short coalition spat. Another round of tax cuts was also passed. In the general election of 3648, the coalition lost its majority, but since the opposition remained divided, Graumann and his deputy Werner Luscher decided to carry on with a minority government, which policy-wise did not achieve much. In September 3650, Luscher for the first time floated a merger proposal between LVP and NBF, citing their increasing ideological similarity. Graumann reacted approvingly, but demanded membership plebsicites on both sides. In late 3651, after both parties' bases had voted yes on the merger, LVP and NBF dissolved and merged into the newly-formed LBU. Most of the LVP membership (~91%) followed the move and subsequently became LBU members. Leaders *Sr. Ehrw. Aurelia Lamann-Spitzer (3563-3575) *Janina Stadtmann (3575-3584) *Sr. Ehrw. Baron Hans Holzinger (interim 3584-3585) *Seine Exzellenz, der Sr. Ehrw. Baron Herbert Griesmeyer (3585-3604) *Sr. Ehrw. Baron Hans Holzinger (interim 3604-3606) *Sr. Ehrw. Dr. Emilia Lahnsteiger (3606-3611) *Sr. Ehrw. Harald Matsuyama (3611-3616) *Sr. Ehrw. Ariane von Gehrfeld (3616-3629) *Sr. Ehrw. Ludwig Kirchgasser (3629-3644) *Sr. Ehrw. Franz Graumann (3644-3650) Leaders of the refounded party (4318 onwards) *Sr. Ehrw. Baron Hademar Holzinger (4318-4332) *Sr. Ehrw. Christina von Track (4332-present) Category:Greater Hulstria Category:Septembrism